Written by John Carroll (ENDpts.com)

• The Belgian biotech Celyad SA (Nasdaq: CYAD) announced early this morning that Novartis (NVS) had gained non-exclusive rights to IP it has on allogeneic CAR-Ts, off-the-shelf cell therapies for cancer that many believe could eventually prove superior to the autologous programs now lining up for an approval,...[saying that] it can earn up to $96 million from their pact.
• Cambridge, MA-based bluebird (BLUE) then followed up with its news of a non-exclusive license with Novartis covering “certain bluebird patent rights related to lentiviral vector technology” for CAR-Ts...[but] none of the financial terms were disclosed.
• On the heels of its Novartis deal, bluebird followed up noting a new pact with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) covering its delivery tech for the pharma giant’s gene therapy work on Wiscott-Aldrich syndrome and metachromatic leukodystrophy, two rare genetic diseases.

These are some of the first new moves by...[Novartis] to demonstrate that it has a keen interest in staying in the lead with Kite Pharma, Inc. (KITE) as CAR-Ts jump past the first approvals and then shoot for new and better drugs. Last summer Novartis stunned the biopharma world with its abrupt and unexpected decision to shutter its stand-alone gene and cell therapy unit, which had been heralded as a key feature in its drive to develop important new therapies.

Analysts are waiting on Novartis to reveal data from its JULIET study on CTL019 later this summer, which will be viewed in direct comparison with Kite’s rival drug.